Here comes One Shuttle falling from the Sky


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JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston, Texas (CNN) -- The space shuttle Columbia, with seven astronauts aboard, broke up as it descended over central Texas Saturday toward a planned landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Residents as far east as Shreveport, Louisiana, reported seeing and feeling an apparent explosion.

Search-and-rescue teams from the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area were alerted and area residents were urged to stay away from any possible debris from the shuttle, which may be hazardous, said NASA public affairs officer James Hartfield.

:(
 

Columbia was NASA's oldest shuttle and first flew in 1981
 

Thought NASA fixed all their kinks after the challenger incident. I guess they got sloppy again.
 

Human can always learn from experience....but at the end Murphy's Law will prevail and caught everyone off guard.....
 

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Human remains found in a field in Texas late Saturday are believed to be those of at least one of the seven astronauts who perished aboard space shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated nearly 40 miles above the Earth.

Along with the remains, a charred NASA patch and a flight helmet were found on a rural road in Hemphill, east of Nacogdoches, Texas, according to The Associated Press. (Full story)

FBI agents in Texas are helping local authorities recover shuttle debris, FBI Dallas field office spokeswoman Lori Bailey told CNN.


:confused:
 

Hi

some insensitive guy was selling to auction off a piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia debris on eBay under item no 2909722097 :confused:

eBay has since removed it already though.....................
 

Sad yes, but being realistic about Columbia's demise it is nothing more than an industrial accident and should be treated as such.

Just watch the hypocrites in the mass media at work. This will occupy centre stage for days while far more serious accidents and their legacies are swept under the carpet. (eg Bohpal).
 

Just read this last night when I was checking out CS. Wai's link is good and shows a very clear shot of the shuttle remains burning up. If it was a damaged left wing as some speculated, won't it be prudent to dock at the 1/2 completed International Space Station and wait out for another ride home, or till the repairs are made?

If I am not wrong, there is also an emergency Soyuz vehicle docked on the space station for emergency use...
:dunno:


2nd shuttle accident so far...
 

Originally posted by Zplus
If it was a damaged left wing as some speculated, won't it be prudent to dock at the 1/2 completed International Space Station and wait out for another ride home, or till the repairs are made?

I read from the website, the columbia is the only space shuttle that cannot dock.. as it wasn't retrofitted for such a task
 

Sigh... I was reading about the re-entry at Space.com 3hrs before the scheduled event. Came to me as a shock when someone posted in IRC later in the day that the shuttle blew up. Thought it was a joke initially. Feel sad for the crews and their family.
 

Originally posted by rueyloon
I read from the website, the columbia is the only space shuttle that cannot dock.. as it wasn't retrofitted for such a task

Wow... no way out...
Sad case man... from the news, it seems the crew had no warning whatsoever.
:confused:
 

Originally posted by Red Dawn
Hi

some insensitive guy was selling to auction off a piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia debris on eBay under item no 2909722097 :confused:

eBay has since removed it already though.....................

US President already declared state of emergency for few states in USA. Anyone keeping the debri(s) from Colombia can be charge with federal offence (Source: CNN). If Ebay track that seller and report the ID to FBI the auctioner will be a dead meat!

From CNN I also heard that there was a sharpnel hitting the left (or right?) during launching.......but the project manager declared as nothing significant and resume the mission.
 

Originally posted by Knighthunter


US President already declared state of emergency for few states in USA. Anyone keeping the debri(s) from Colombia can be charge with federal offence (Source: CNN). If Ebay track that seller and report the ID to FBI the auctioner will be a dead meat!

From CNN I also heard that there was a sharpnel hitting the left (or right?) during launching.......but the project manager declared as nothing significant and resume the mission.


from CNN they said it's some 'foam'...
 

The foam is the environmentally friendly foam used to insulate the huge tank of H2. Unfortunately, it was not human friendly. :(

Space walks was done to inspect the damage. But even if the damage was spotted, there wasn't much they could have done.

Why Docking at ISS isn't feasible:

1. Can't Dock - You'll need the docking module to do that! And the modular bay had a skylab in it.
2. ISS is far far away up from that shuttle - remember the shuttle only goes up to LEO (low earth orbit)
3. Not much fuel left
4. Columbia too heavy to make it to ISS, even if there was enough fuel. It was the only shuttle to not visit ISS (lets leave challenger out, please) as it was too heavy.

Re-entry is fully automated - Human's don't do it, simply because they can't.

Note that the temperature spike at left wing may be a malfunction of the sensor/wire/onboard computer.



NASA has to take many budget cuts in recent years. Even spending on safety was cut. As the saying goes, you pay for what you get. Ouch.
 

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